Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

1. A kinsman, relation, kindred; freq. used pred. with adj. force = related, akin, in 1899 quot. = alike in character and habits. Now rare or obs. in Eng. Gen.Sc.
Abd. 1790 A. ShirrefsPoems 78: My nephew and a Laird he canna be, Were he a Laird, he'd be nae kin to me.Sc. 1887 A. S. SwanGates of Eden xvii.: He was his brother, his only near kin.Kcb. 1893 CrockettStickit Minister 154: This gentleman, who was a distant kin of his own.Sc. 1899 E. F. HeddleMarget 25: “Marget's kin to grandfather”, she said.Rxb. 1942 5 : Hei may be ca'd Scott like mei, bit hei's nae kin o' mine.

Hence ¶kinawa [ < kin + Awa] , distant relatives (Ayr. 1892 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 359); kinless, having no relatives or kindred, sc. as a means of influence. Cf. kithless s.v. Kith, n., 2.
Sc. 1720 T. BostonFourfold State 249: The base Things of the World, 1 Cor. i. 28. the Kinless Things.Sc. 1882 J. OgilvieImperial Dict.: Kinless loons, a name given by the Scotch to the Judges sent among them by Cromwell, because they distributed justice solely according to the merits of the cases, being uninfluenced by family or party ties.